


Even the Dead Need Rest

by SioDymph



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, exam week, finals week drama, not getting your advised 8 hours of sleep, stress in general, test stress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 22:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10886055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SioDymph/pseuds/SioDymph
Summary: It almost finals week and Danny's just about burnt out. How is he supposed to juggle high school finals and protecting an entire city, all running on a few hours of sleep?





	Even the Dead Need Rest

Danny didn’t like thinking about it, but it’d gotten to a point now that there was no way he could deny it. He was seriously burning out. And he was doomed.

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. Ever since freshmen year he’d gotten accustomed to living on four hours of sleep, usually less. Between the insane workload from all his teachers and the whole becoming half-dead thing his double life took up all his time. Honestly if it weren’t for Sam and Tucker he’d probably become a complete anti-social weirdo. Opposed to the semi-weirdo he’d become in school.

But this was ridiculous.

It was finals week in school and for once he was actually trying to study in between nightly ghost fights. There was no way he was repeating freshmen year, it was bad enough his grades had slipped. Who knew how his Mom and Dad and Jazz would react if they found out he was held back. He’d hoped that just maybe, for once his nightly patrols would go quicker but it seemed like the closer it got to finals week every single specter in the entire Ghost Zone wanted to wreak havoc on the city. So instead of getting home around 1 or 2 in the morning, he was getting in around 3. And each night it was getting later and later.

He knew he was doomed when Friday morning snuck back into the house and when he looked at the clock it said 5:30. He didn’t even bother trying to sleep. What was the point?

When he got to school he felt completely, 100% dead. Tucker had to keep shoving him awake all throughout school, he couldn’t even remember actually walking from class to class. He couldn’t even remember what Dash said to him, if he even decided to mess with him, let alone any of his classes’ reviews. And finals week started Monday morning.

Danny had one last shot. If he could just cram study this weekend, then maybe he might at least get some passing grades and make it to the next grade.

But when he got home, still exhausted and practically brain-dead, he tried to read over some of Lancer required reading his breath got ice-cold. For a few moments he tried to be selfish. Maybe he could take a few nights off. What’s the worst that could happen in just a few nights?

Then he heard several horrified scream and an explosion went off on the other side of town. Bright enough he could actually see it from his window.

So sighing through his nose and clenching his teeth Danny put the book down. Looks like Danny Fenton’s high-school education would have to wait. Cause right now Amity Park needed Danny Phantom.

After muttering “going ghost” under his breath and transforming into his alter ego, he phased out of his room and flew up above the city to where a colossal blue fire was burning at the mall. People were sprinting away from the burning building, not even bothering to save their cars as they were pulled up into the air. Between the floating cars, burnt computers scattered on the ground and the blaring rock music it was clear both Ember and Technus were here.

He thought they were working together, to take over the city or something dumb like that, but as he got closer it seemed like the two were shouting at… each other?

When he got to the parking lot Danny spotted Technus. Clearly he was furious, most likely about all his tech Ember must have torched.

“You ungrateful punk! If it weren’t for my technology and power you wouldn’t even have that garbage you call rock and roll!” He roared and before Danny could intervene Technus sent a mini-van hurtling towards the half-collapsed retail store Ember was playing from.

And instead of dodging the car like a normal, reasonable person, Ember cranked up the volume on her guitar to the deafening point where Danny could see the sound in waves. And like some insane game of volleyball the sound smacked the van and it was sent flying back out into the parking lot. Towards an elderly couple trying to flee for their lives.

The air was smacked out of Danny as he grabbed it and tried to push it away from the couple. He felt himself and the car hit the ground and for a brief moment he blacked out. But only for a few seconds until his vison came back with purple and blue blinking splotches. Through his swimming hearing he could make out Ember retorting back as Technus lifted up another car into the air.

This had to stop right now before it escalated into something even worse. Kick the van off of him, Danny flew up in between the ghosts and put up his hands. “That’s it! Both of you need to knock it off right now! What’s even going on?”

“Well,” Technus began with a huff as he let the car drop back onto the ground. “This little punk and her _boyfriend_ thought they could pull a fast one on me! Thought they could get the Tech without the Technus! Huh? HUH!”

Ember in turn rolled her eyes. “Puh-leas, like we would waste our time! Just because we got computer doesn’t mean were invading your turf man!”

“Guys, I seriously don’t have time for this! So why don’t we bring this down a few thousand notches and just talk this out instead of burning the whole city to the ground or-“

“You stay out of this, brat!”

Before Danny could even finish another car was being thrown at him from one side and a wave of rock music hit him on the other side. He was sent flying across the parking lot and he crashed into the back of a pick-up truck.

Maybe if he were working at 75% he’d be able to take both of them. But he’d been running on 3 hours of sleep for a full 24 hours now and after just 2 hits he felt like he was falling apart. But if he didn’t stop these two who would? He had to do something!

Groaning Danny pulled himself up out of the bed of the truck and got back on to his feet. He was pretty sure that when he was in ghost-form he didn’t have muscles or bones but the sore pain coming from where his ribs would usually be was seriously making him question it.

His whole body felt like lead despite being weightless. It was like the gravity of the entire planet was pulling him down as he tried to fly up. And when he looked down he realized with some horror his bottom half had reverted back to his human form.

Thankfully it didn’t seem like Technus or Ember notice his redo his legs as they readied their powers once again.

“Why don’t you just go home Phantom! You look terrible, deader than us!” Ember shouted out over her guitar shredding.

“Yeah, we won’t warn you again kid!” Technus added in. “Stay out of this before you really get yourself hurt!”

“No- No way!” Danny snapped back. He wanted to yell but it was getting harder to raise his voice. This was bad, this was really, really bad. “And who else would deal with you two?”

“How’bout me!” Whipping his head around, he saw a flash of lime green shoot across the parking lot towards Ember hitting her square in the chest.

And a Violet-red laser beam shot off hitting Technus on the back of the head. “And me!”

Danny needed to blink a few times to get the spots back out of his vison, but sure enough both Dani and the Red Huntress were both here now. And each of them were taking on his spooks. He was about to help Dani but then he stopped and really watched her fight. She’d gotten better with combat. Able to stay clear of Ember’s sound waves and even hit her back with her own powers. She never developed an ice core like him but Dani had mastered her green ectoplasm amazingly. And as he watched her fight he couldn’t help but feel proud of her.

He got so caught up in the fight he almost didn’t hear Valerie yelling at him from behind. The Red Huntress had done quite the number of Technus and now he was wiped out enough to be captured. Danny fumbled with his thermos, nearly dropping it a few times before he could finally get his thumb on the button and sucked him into the thermos. And Ember followed surprisingly quickly after that.

“Hey Phantom! Still can’t pull your weight?” Valerie called out before hovering closer on her board. When she got close enough to see his face Danny saw her flinch away. “Woah! If you weren’t dead before you sure look it now!”

Before he could quipped back he was suddenly tackled by a mop of silver hair and green light. “Oh my- Danny are you alright? What happened? You’re not falling apart too, you can’t!”

“No, no I’m ok. I promise you I’m alright.” Danny said hugging her back tightly.

“Then why do you look like that? You look horrible!”

“I uhh…” Danny couldn’t lie to them, he couldn’t get anything besides his real identity past Val and Dani looked about ready to panic. So he decided to be honest with them. “I’ve just been real tired lately. I’ve been up a lot later than usual. I’ve haven’t had a break in a few days…”

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t know ghost got tired.” There was a bit of an awkward pause but then Valerie got an idea. “Wait! What if we kept an eye of Amity Park? Then you could take the weekend off! Come back Monday fresh and to fight and do your ghost thing or whatever?”

“What?” Danny couldn’t even compute what she was saying. Take a break? Leave the entire city unprotected?

Dani’s eyes brightened at that. “Yeah! This will be so much fun! I’ve been practicing tons with Val! We can put all this training to good use!”

“Will you guys be able to handle the whole city though?” Danny asked. The idea was so tempted but he was still worried. “It’s like every ghost is trying to get out of the Zone lately.”

“Come on! We can handle it! And you’re no good to anyone burnt out like this! Just take a break!” Valeria said.

“…Are you guys sure?”

“Danny we’ll be fine! Go!” Valerie shooed him off one last time and Danny finally surrendered, slowly flying back home.

It felt weird to be heading home so early. As he fazed back into his room and reverted to his human state it all seemed so off to him. But he was ready to collapse on the ground so he trudge over to his bed and fell face-first into his pillow.

One traitorous part of his mind kept screaming even as he tried to fall asleep. How could he leave the city unprotected? For the whole weekend no less! What if something terrible happened? What if Dani and Val needed help? What if they got seriously hurt?

But he kept trying to remind himself that Dani and Val could take care of themselves. Valerie could kick his butt any day of the week and he’d seen Dani had grown so much as a fighter. And they both knew what they were doing.

It would be ok. It might not feel like it yet but things would be ok. Valerie and Dani knew what they were doing. It would be alright.

He’d sleep tonight and tomorrow morning he’d begin studying. He’d lock himself in his room if he had to he was getting this school work memorized.

And this would all work out. Val and Dani would take care of Amity for one weekend, he’d pass his classes, and everything would be ok.

He repeated the words like a mantra as his eyes slipped shut and his body finally relaxed.

~~~

Monday morning finally came and the Danny’s guts were tied in knots as he made his way to his first exam. For once he could remember some of the stuff in Lancer’s class. Like it wasn’t a lot, but hopefully his cram studying all weekend would help him get a C.

And for probably the first time in nearly two years, he didn’t feel tired.

So as he sat down in Lancer’s class he actually felt some-what prepared. He just might do ok. If he could just keep all the stuff he’d read all weekend in  his head for just two more hours it’d all be worth it.

In the desk across from his he heard a quiet “Hey Fenton”. He turned to see Valerie was looking back at him. There heavy bags under her eyes, expertly hidden by a thick layer of concealer. If he hadn’t known, he’d wouldn’t be able to tell she had been out every night this weekend ghost-hunting with his clone.

“Hi Val! So uh, how do you feel about this test?”

Valerie made a so-so gesture “Eh, I’ll survive. Kinda hope I get an A, but I can work with a B.”

“Oh, yeah! I uh- I definitely know about all that. Grades and stuff.” Danny almost wanted to crawl under his desk. Here he was worrying he might not pass this class while Valerie was worrying over a B. “Don’t sweat it though Valerie, I bet you’ll do great!”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah! I mean, you get all this kind of work. All the metaphors and writing, you’re like one of Lancer’s favorite students!” Danny tried to keep his voice calm, even as Valerie laughed slightly then smiled at him.

“Aw, thanks! You know, you can be really sweet when you want to be!”

He wanted to say more, but then Lancer walked in with a colossal pile of tests and began excitedly passing them out to every student. As a stack of paper was dropped onto his desk and Lancer gave him a patronizing look he heard a quiet “Good luck Fenton!” from Valerie and the test began.

He wanted to say thanks to Valerie. Thank you for giving up you extra time, saving my skin.

But instead he flipped open his test and got to work. Hopefully he could make Valerie and Dani’s kindness payoff.


End file.
